The Libertarian Thought of William Godwin: Utilitarianism and Instrumental Rationality

My intention in this paper is to dismantle the common reading of William Godwin´s Political Theory which says that he belongs to the Anglo-Saxon Utilitarian Tradition. In the first place, and for that purpose, it´s showed how The Principle of Utility (as it was conceived by Jeremy Bentham) is strong...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Barreyro, María Emilia; Universidad de Buenos Aires
Formato: Artículo publishedVersion
Lenguaje:Español
Publicado: Centro de Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias en Ciencias y Humanidades 2013
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Acceso en línea:http://www.revistas.unam.mx/index.php/rcj/article/view/40797
http://biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.cgi?a=d&c=mx/mx-005&d=article40797oai
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Sumario:My intention in this paper is to dismantle the common reading of William Godwin´s Political Theory which says that he belongs to the Anglo-Saxon Utilitarian Tradition. In the first place, and for that purpose, it´s showed how The Principle of Utility (as it was conceived by Jeremy Bentham) is strongly tied to The Authority Principle. Then, it´s exposed why both principles are irreconcilable with idea of Individual Autonomy understood radically, as Godwin did. Lastly, it´s pointed out how those principles are incompatible with the Non-Instrumental Rationality assumed in the Godwin´s Political Theory. In consequence, it would be more adequate to locate Godwin in the revolutionary and rousseaunian Political Thought Tradition